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In a bad sign for the world’s ability to work together to fight against bird flu or some other pandemic, a flap has erupted over some Dutch scientists applying for a patent on a newly recognized SARS-like virus that has killed nearly two dozen people in the Middle East.
The virus has been recently dubbed MERS-CoV (for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) and it has killed 22 people since June, according to the World Health Organization.
As Bloomberg reports, some leading Dutch scientists are defending their patent application for MERS against complaints by some experts, as as well as the Saudis, that this is hardly the way to collaborate on global health. The scientists say they are collaborating:
Albert Osterhaus and Ron Fouchier, virologists at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, said patenting the virus was a “normal thing to do,” and that they have shared it freely with more than 40 labs worldwide, in a phone interview from Rotterdam yesterday. Continue reading →
India is often called the world’s largest democracy. It could also be called one of the world’s messiest democracies.
Indian Gov’t on Collision Course With Civil Society – For years India’s pro-liberalisation, Congress party-led coalition government chafed at civil society groups getting in the way of grand plans to boost growth through the setting up of mega nuclear power parks, opening up the vast mineral-rich tr
Read more at: www.ipsnews.net
If all you do is look at the global health statistics for death and disability, it’s clear that men are doing worse than women. Yet women, and children, tend to get most of the focus and emphasis in global health policy. A recent Lancet paper pointed this out. But NPR quotes one of my favorite health experts explaining why, despite these numbers, it still makes sense to focus mostly on women and children.
Karen Grepin, a health economist at New York University, says men are often doing poorly because of unhealthy behavior. Women and children are often doing poorly due to lack of equal access to income, power and health services – often basic preventive care like vaccines and reproductive health.
“Women are politically, economically disadvantaged around the world,” Grepin says. “There are really important consequences for women’s health. They play a large role in taking care of children. When they get sick, there’s a spillover effect in the house — for the next generation.”
On average, men aren’t as healthy as women. Men don’t live as long, and they’re more likely to engage in risky behaviors, like smoking and drinking. But in the past decade, global health funding has focused heavily on women. Programs and policies for men have been “notably absent,” says Sarah Hawkes from the University of London’s Institute of Global Health.
Read more at: www.npr.org
The so-called ‘war on drugs’ hasn’t worked, by almost any indicator. Some could make the case that the quasi-militaristic law enforcement strategy has actually made things worse by creating massive cycles of violence – not to mention rewarding cartels by, inadvertently, driving up prices.
European governments and the Obama administration are this weekend studying a “gamechanging” report on global drugs policy that is being seen in some quarters as the beginning of the end for blanket prohibition.
Read more at: www.guardian.co.uk
The US government has a long history of mixing up its missions overseas. Is food aid supposed to be about feeding the hungry or serving the interests of the American agribusiness? (Hint: The answer, so far, is yes … with an emphasis on the latter). Similarly, based partly on the idea of ‘winning hearts and minds,’ the US military is now competing for a piece of the turf occupied by Doctors Without Borders and other health aid organizations.
The Center for Global Development’s Kate Almquist Knopf gives six reasons why this is a bad idea.
If providing humanitarian aid and promoting development is in the United States’ national interest, then it should be done by those best-suited to do the job—civilian development experts. DoD should instead focus on its value added to development: promoting physical security so that civilians can do their jobs.
Read more at: www.cgdev.org
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, a favorite of many politicians and development champions in the West, has been on the defensive lately arguing against accusations that Rwanda has perpetuated a bloody conflict across the border in Congo and is constructing a de-facto one-party, authoritarian state.
Paul Kagame is angrier than I’ve ever seen him. Rwanda’s president is famously direct with his critics. His contempt for governments he’s crossed swords with, led by the French, is only marginally less vitriolic than his view of human-rights groups daring to lecture him, the rebel leader whose army put a stop to the 1994 genocide of 800,0000 Tutsis.
Read more at: www.guardian.co.uk
Eskinder Nega was arrested after raising questions about arrests under Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism legislation in September 2011. Now he serves an 18 year sentence thanks to the very law he questioned.
“The Ethiopian government is treating calls for peaceful protest as a terrorist act and is outlawing the legitimate activity of journalists and opposition members,” said Amnesty International‘s Ethiopia researcher Claire Beston at the time of sentencing.
Rights groups raised attention to the use of the law to circumvent speech and dissent. Nearly a year later, Nega remains in jail. His attempt to appeal the ruling two weeks ago failed. The judge upheld the sentencing decision, saying it was correct.
“The truth will set us free,” said Nega to the public following the ruling. “We want the Ethiopian public to know that the truth will reveal itself, it’s only a matter of time.”
A year and a half of truth later and Nega is still in jail. He is not the lone victim of Ethiopia’s crackdown of opposition figures and abuse of its terrorism law. Ethiopia is one of the worst places in the world to be a journalist. 79 journalists fled Ethiopia between 2001 and 2011, the most of any country in the world. The press freedom index categorized Ethiopia among the most difficult countries for press. Continue reading →
It shouldn’t be too surprising that social media can be a force for bad as well as good. Inter Press reports on how social media, which was credited for helping launch the ‘Arab Spring’ revolution in Egypt, is now being used by some to foment rumors, undermine opponents by spreading lies and to incite violence.
In Post-Revolution Egypt, Social Media Shows Dark Side – More than two years after social media networks helped Egyptian activists organise massive street protests that led to the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak, these networks are now playing a less positive role, often serving as a platform
Read more at: www.ipsnews.net
